


Rain Doll

by quietmoon



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2020-07-08 02:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19861702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietmoon/pseuds/quietmoon
Summary: You don't need to pretend that perfection is your friend, 'cause we're all broken (and we don't all end up alone).





	1. Juvia is made of rain

**Author's Note:**

> _cross-posted from[ff.net](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9793833/1/Rain-Doll)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _*summary lyrics from human—Gabrielle Aplin._  
>  **disclaimer:** not mine.  
>  **AN:** I've developed an addiction to writing really bad drabbles. Oh well. (If any readers of **FMLB** are here, don't worry - I'm still putting 100% into new chapters, ofc. And if you aren't already reading it, I want you to, k?)  
> Mwah. *throws confetti at you*

" **Do not be angry with the rain; it simply** _ **does not know**_ **how to fall upwards."** – _Vladimir Nabokov_

Usually, Juvia is a conundrum.

She isn't an unhappy girl (not now that she's found Fairy Tail) but at the same time, she isn't a happy one, either.

The front room of Fairy Hills is empty when she opens the door. Silently, she moves through the building – it's too late to be yesterday and too early to be tomorrow, and she knows that this is a time to be quiet and alone.

No-one knows better than her when it is appropriate to be in solitude (even though the sound of the rain billowing against the walls of this building sounds different from her old guildhall, and she _loves_ that).

Juvia is the _drip-drop_ in the corner and she is the mist that gives you shivers in the morning. She is like a storm out at sea, and if you are careless, you will unwittingly drown. She's seen it happen over and over and over, countless times.

Indeed, if there is one thing that Juvia knows – one thing that Juvia does _best –_ it is _rain_.

They used to say she made God cry. She didn't mean to, she never did, but it didn't matter what she wanted and what she didn't because the fact of the matter was that wherever she went, the rain followed.

She gently closes the door behind her, not wanting to disturb anyone who might be up at this time. (She saw the Titania polishing some armour through the window – Juvia must remind herself that she is not alone in her loneliness).

She used to hate it, she used to _hate_ the rain ( _but isn't that what Juvia is? they would ask_ ) but then she got used to the wet clothes and the heavy hair. She got used to stabbing against her skin and soon enough, she herself joined the water and it didn't hurt anymore. It took time, but she accepted it in the end ( _even though she was happy when_ he _took it away_ ).

Juvia has been at Fairy Tail for three days, and she is already terrified. She wonders who she will drown this time. ( _Maybe she should leave now, before she can't._ )

She strips out of her wet clothes ( _they were cold_ ) and lets them pool on the floor behind her. She wraps a bathrobe around her body – it's huge and completely engulfs her in its embrace – and carefully opens her window.

The familiar patter against the glass soothes her. She lets her hand dangle outside, let's the raindrops splatter across her arm and shatter into tiny liquid fragments, or watches as they meld with her because she is water and they are the same.

Juvia is made of rain.

It's a little strange to know that it wasn't her fault this time – she hasn't done that, ( _not since meeting him,_ ) not since seeing that blue, blue sky.

Right now, it is _Juvia_ who is following the rain, and not the other way around. But it's still the same, really, no matter what the order.

Rain will fall eventually. _(and so did she)_

_(and she remembers his hand around her arm after he fought, he defeated her, and he was holding her up, keeping her from falling and shattering like one of these little, delicate raindrops.)_

Her concentration is lost – her hand becomes solid again and the water breaks against her skin once more.

For the first time in a long time, Juvia doesn't mind. It's not that bad, falling... if somebody wants to catch you.


	2. the rain doll found a friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because this was begging to be written in some form or another.

" **Some people** _ **walk in the rain**_ **, others just get wet."** – _Roger Miller_

Juvia is not happy today. ( _She saw a rain doll lying in a trashcan._ )

She trails behind Gajeel-kun as they walk to the guild together – today he's refusing to go in alone (again) - and she counts the cracks in the cobblestones. Magnolia is a beautiful city – the air smells of flowers and freshly baked bread.

"You're unusually quiet," Gajeel-kun notes. She glances up at him; he's still walking with his back to her with his usual confident swagger. His arms are stretched above him and behind his head - more than anything, he looks _at ease_. Has she ever seen him like that?

The thought makes makes Juvia smile. But she doesn't say anything ( _because the doll was ripped and muddy and completely alone_ ) and instead, she quickens her pace and falls into step beside her fellow ex-Phantom.

Gajeel-kun gives her a side glance. "It's weird seeing you in the sun." His muscular arms drop to his sides and he compares their hands. "You're paler than a ghost."

Juvia's smile grows as she holds up her hand for scrutiny ( _and she tries to put the rain doll out of mind because in the end, it doesn't even_ mean _anything, and she knows she's just being stupid_ but _-_ )

He suddenly turns on his heels and starts walking back the way they came.

"G-Gajeel-kun?" Juvia stops, confused.

He doesn't turn to look at her but his arms are back up behind his head. "Did you have nightmares or something?"

"Wha...?" Juvia trails off. What's he getting at?

"You've got dark circles under your eyes. Now, look here, rain-woman, I'm not your baby-sitter. You need to take care of yourself, got it? I'm not gonna go around behind you and pick up the trash." Juvia's eyes are wide as she stares at him. _Is he...?_ He suddenly turns back to look at her, and says, "It was raining last night at my place, too. Just so you know."

Juvia's breath catches. _He's never tried to comfort her_. She still doesn't say anything but she looks at him with something new in her eye – maybe it's respect and maybe it's appreciation or maybe it's something a bit _more_ , a bit _deeper_ , something that they never really had until they came to a guild where nakama are family and two strangers-but-not-strangers need to stick together.

She's suddenly so happy she asked Master Makarov to help Gajeel-kun. She did the _right_ _thing_ , for once.

He catches her eye for a moment before turning back again and walking away in the opposite direction from the guild. "Get to bed on time, would ya? How do you expect the fairies to respect you when you're falling asleep on missions, idiot?"

Her eyes are still wide, her mouth a little slack. "Where are you going?"

He keeps walking away from her but he raises a hand in farewell, not looking back. "I'll meet you there. Forgot something."

Juvia watches him leave, wanting to say something but unable to find the words, and soon enough Gajeel-kun is gone and she's alone in the street.

She notices that the puddles from last night are already disappearing in the morning sun. Before long, there'll be no sign it had ever rained.

Juvia wonders... what exactly will Fairy Tail do to _her_?

( _Later, when Juvia is sitting at a table in the guildhall and trying to-  
well, just _trying- __  
she sees the rain doll from the trashcan hanging behind the counter. When she asks, the beautiful one with the white hair and the too-kind smile tells her Gajeel-kun found it outside and said he thought it belonged to a member of the guild.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so bad. /sob


	3. sunshine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **dedication:** to Laura, because she rambles. (Go love CalaveraCandiedSkull k.)
> 
>  **AN:** whoops i made it too long OH WELL

" **There is really no such thing as bad weather, only** _ **different kinds of good**_ **weather."** \- _John Ruskin_

It is night-time and Juvia is looking up.

She does that a lot now ( _now that she can see the sky_ ), and she can't get over how _beautiful_ the stars are.

She's outside the guildhall with everyone else – with her ' _nakama'_ – and she doesn't think has ever felt so at home for a very, very long time.

It's such a pleasant night. So warm. When she thinks nobody is looking, Juvia smiles wider than she ever has before.

She thought wrong.

"Are you a fan of the night sky, too?"

Juvia stiffens at that voice, but she still looks round – the girl is sweet and beautiful and far took kind ( _and Juvia almost drowned her less than a month ago_ ).

Lucy Heartfilia beams at her. "I absolutely _love_ the stars. Well,"– she laughs and it's warm and lovely and carefree ( _and everything that Juvia is not_ ) –"you could have guessed that." She winks and wiggles her hips to make her keys ( _keys that Juvia left in the street_ ) jangle. "I _am_ a celestial wizard, after all."

Suddenly, Juvia feels cold. An unwelcome shiver runs up her spine and she can't look her in the eye, she can't, she _can't_ –

Lucy seems to understand and instead wordlessly looks up with that wide eyed gaze of hers. She doesn't notice the stare she's receiving from the blunette.

This girl is _his_ team-mate – his most _precious nakama._ Her hair is sunny, her smile is radiant, and she's friendly and open and read like a book. ( _The complete opposite of the rain woman, Juvia thinks bitterly._ ) This girl has faith in her friends, and has found a family in her guild, so much so that she ran away from home... Juvia is confused because isn't that a selfish thing to do?  
But Lucy Heartfilia isn't selfish, she _isn't_ , because she forgave Juvia ( _and Juvia cannot forgive her for that_ ).

For the first time in her life, Juvia understands how it feels to drown; the weight of her guilt is crushing her.

"Juvia?" Lucy's looking at her again with that sunny smile and she almost looks away, but suddenly the girl's hand is around Juvia's wrist and she's trapped. She accidentally flinches at the contact - she's scared because Lucy's smile is gone and Juvia knows what's going to happen now, she knows, she _knows–_

"I hope you won't judge me because of my father," Lucy blurts out.

 _What?_ Juvia is taken aback; she stares at the blonde girl with round eyes.

Lucy is blushing now – she's let go of Juvia's wrist, instead fingering the handles of her stellar keys self-consciously. "I-... It's kind of embarrassing. I don't know what you must think of me, but I..." Lucy laughs nervously, her hand rising to the back of her head unconsciously – Juvia noticed earlier that that's what the Salamander does, and it makes her wonder... ( _because who could be more suited to each other than those two?_ ) Lucy continues, "You should know that I'm not sorry for what I did or how I acted, though. It's not the best introduction, but I..."

Lucy turns and clasps Juvia's hands in her own, and the rain woman is so shocked she jumps. It makes Lucy laugh and all of a sudden, she's lit up again like the sun and Juvia can't stop wondering what magic could make a smile like that.

"I _love_ Fairy Tail, Juvia. I would do anything to protect it. It's my _family"–_ there's that word again, they're _always_ _saying_ _it_ , Juvia notices fondly –"and I love it with all my heart. Every single member is dear to me." Lucy watches her intently as she says this, and Juvia is suddenly very aware of the hands holding her own. "Fairy Tail is really special, Juvia. You'll see."

Juvia is breathless, and – she notices with such surprise that she's blushing _!?_ ( _Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the Salamander and Gajeel-kun and_ him _watching the two of them, and the blush intensifies because_ he _is looking at_ Juvia _-!)_

And then Lucy's let go of her hands and she's staring back up at the sky and pointing out the constellation for Aquarius because she thinks Juvia would like that one. The rain woman has never met another girl so special, and she thinks she understands why _he_ treasures her so much now.

And Juvia is _sodamnjealous_. _(But right now, that hardly matters at all.)_

And now Lucy is laughing at something Natsu has done as she runs to him, to her best friend.

Juvia laughs as well, and follows–  
 _(because_ he _is there and he is_ shirtless! _)_  
 _–_ because Lucy had _misunderstood_ , she misunderstood in the sweetest, _sweetest_ way, and she had forgiven Juvia, she welcomed her to her family, and now, Juvia can understand why the whole guild was willing to sacrifice so much to protect this sunny, lovely girl, and now–

 _She doesn't know how it happened, but_ –  
now Juvia understands more and more what makes Fairy Tail so _right_ for her.

She feels more at home than _ever (and she hopes she_ is _because she doesn't want to leave._ ) And she wants something else, something she didn't even know about until now.  
Juvia hopes that someone like Lucy - someone with so much sunshine in their soul - would concede to being friends with a rain woman.

She glances up again at the stars, and smiles.

 _(She might might_ might _be healing.)_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this still count as ooc if i can totally imagine it happening?


	4. him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **notes:** i'd say this one's a little meaningless but i think if i really believed that i wouldn't have written it. so make of it what you will.  
>  **notes2:** i'm being sneaky and using this fic as a distraction from fmlb and nanowrimo stress. teehee. (i have sooo many little ideas for drabbles and juvia is my queen so... see you soon?)

**"The rain began again. It fell heavily, _easily, with no meaning or intention_ but the fulfilment of its own nature,  
which was to fall _and fall_."** _—_ _Helen Garner_

Two hours after Mirajane gives Juvia a glass of lemonade and told her about the rain doll, _he_ arrives.

Apparently he and the Salamander had found Gajeel-kun wondering around Magnolia, adamantly avoiding the guildhall for some mysterious reason. (Juvia ducks her head to hide a smile — had he always been this… dorky?)

Then _he_ notices her smiling vaguely in their direction, and says hello to her. The rain woman's breath catches in her throat when he gives her a wide, unreserved grin, unaware that he was simply returning her own.

"So how've you been?" he asks her, swinging into the stool right beside hers. "Never thought you'd join Fairy Tail, but it's not the first time I've been wrong."

Mirajane sets a cup in front of him without a word and Juvia is struck for what feels like the million time by how familiar all the guild members are with one another. In her own guild — no, _no no no_ , in her _old guild_ (she likes how that sounds) she very rarely spoke to anyone excepting the other members of Element 4 and the master. But in Fairy Tail… if anything, they're all _too_ familiar of one another. There's no distance to act as a disguise. No clouds or rain to hide behind. No protection. (Perhaps no more loneliness, too.)

He lowers the cup of ice chips (… _why is he drinking ice chips?_ ) and as if he'd read her mind, he continues, ""I've seen you around."

It takes Juvia a second to process more than the fact that he had seen her around _(he saw her he saw her he saw her_ _ **he saw her!**_ _)_ but then she manages a shaky breath before nodding. He hasn't spoken to her since… well, since they fought and he won, and she saw the sky, and somehow she won too. "Juvia... is happier here."

She keeps her gaze focused on the wood in front of her as he hums in understanding. She's sure he'll get up and leave, if not now then eventually, and she doesn't have anything more to say so she doesn't. Instead, they settle into a comfortable silence that feels better than any victory ever could.

Juvia can barely imagine getting used to a life like this, sitting across from a mage as kind as Gray Fullbuster (or just sitting beside Gray-sama in general, but). But she'd like to. _Lord, how she'd like to._ So the rain woman quietly and happily sips her lemonade, and lets herself enjoy the moment.

Three hours later, he still hasn't gotten up and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **January/16:** I have no plans to continue this in the foreseeable future, so let's leave it there for now, shall we? I hope you enjoyed this drabble series~.


End file.
